Dual camera tech is nothing new, despite what some may say. However, it’s quickly growing more popular, and Qualcomm is hopping on the bandwagon to help manufacturers implement a quality dual camera setup.

Qualcomm calls their dual camera tech Clear Sight and it relies on two identically specced sensors, one color and one black and white. The monochrome sensor has color filter removed, making it three times more sensitive to light. This means you’ll get sharper, less noisy low light photos. Combined with the color sensor data, the photos are superior to a single sensor setup.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 821 both support Clear Sight due to the integrated Spectra ISP, a dedicated image processor. This opens up the processors to be used with dual camera setups in the future.

However, Chinese manufacturers have been doing this for a while. The Huawei P9 and Honor 8 both feature dual sensors, one color and one monochrome, used identically to this. The Kirin 950 and 955 processors have the same features already on the market. And if anyone has doubts about how well it works, lay those doubts to rest because it’s a great feature.

Hopefully some competition in the US market from Exynos and Kirin processors will make Qualcomm to step up their game. This is a big step forward and we’re excited to see where it leads.